Fondant Verses Buttercream

[Smelikai]

I've had my heart set on a cake with covered with fondant. I love how it's perfectly smooth and elegant. And I've read on a couple of websites that fondant holds up better than buttercream during the heat. We're getting married mid May so it should be pretty hot. I asked my WC to ask their cake vendor if I could get a fondant. The cake vendor says they only offer fondant from Dec-Feb, because fondant doesn't hold up in the heat. And that buttercream would be my best option. I'm having a hard time believing this. Has anyone had a fondant cake? I'm not totally opposed to a buttercream cake, I'm just having a hard time understanding this.

[TammyB]

I actually heard that buttercream works better as well. I had a buttercream frosting on our cake. I also heard that you have to be really careful with the type of filling you use with fondant because it can throw off the taste. Course with that said the butter cream was a little too much suger for my taste. Ok I just realized I was NO help.. Sorry..

[MsShelley]

I love buttercream frosting and you can do a lot with it, fondant works better for some cakes, but the taste is not very yummy...

[Can'tHardlyWait]

I checked with a local bakery here in Boston and they told me to go with fondant if it's an option because it holds better in the heat. I asked my WC and she said that I could have fondant in May if I wanted it, but that it was more expensive than buttercream.

 

My suggestion is to call/email a couple of bakeries in Cabo and get their advice... they probably know best

[TATrisha]

I am having my cake made by a baker in Akumal. She won't use fondant. It's too humid and the fondant won't stay on. It ruins cakes. I'm doing a cream cheese frosting instead of a buttercream.

[Smelikai]

I'm thinking maybe the cake vendor said that because it's humid down there? Can you make butterceam look really smooth? Because I do love the taste of it. I just want that really smooth look.

[MikkiStreak]

I think it depends on what's under the cake. The cake we had made for Audrey's birthday last year had fonant on it. We had to drive an hour to the party site, and even with the cake in the shade with the air conditioning running the entire drive---- the areas with the fondant started collapsing. But under the fondant was a really thick layer of buttercream.

 

So I think the ability to hold up in the heat is relative to how thick the buttercream is underneath, as well as the ingredients in the cake. For example, fondant doesn't hold up well with liqueur based cakes. The moistness of the cake has a hard time holding up the fondant.

 

I will agree---- fondant doesn't taste horrible, but it has a texture to it that kind of throws off my expectation for the cake. And, if your baker is skilled--- many times they can make the buttercream frosting really smooth and unless you're right next to the cake, you can't even tell it's not fondant.

[A10CalGal]

Wow, details details!! I had a tres leches cake, and it was yummy!

[JulieG]

I am very very confused with her response. I make cakes, and my teacher who has been making cakes for a million years (Bonnie Gordon), taught us to always use Fondant in hot weather and never butter cream unless its in major air conditioning because it melts really fast, its butter, but with some sugar added and you know how butter melts. Unless they are not using REAL butter cream icing and adding something else to it like icing sugar, then that might play a role, I only make real buttercream icing.

 

I have never ever had a problem with my fondant holding up. I made a cake for a backyard party in the middle of summer and it was a hot humid day and it held up great. It gets a little soft after being out for a while, but you can't tell that until you cut into it.

 

I think the issue is that fondant is also more expensive. It could also be an issue of who makes their fondant, maybe its not as good as the fondant you can get here.

 

Sorry for the long post, but I really am confused. I would say fondant over buttercream anyday, but that is using my fondant, so I am not sure.

 

You can make buttercream very very smooth, I have done this myself, they just have to be good at it. Maybe you should ask them for some pictures of thier buttercream cakes.

[NYJen]

Do you know who the cake vendor is? I'm using Jennifer Hatton for my cake. (She is apparently the Cake Diva of Cabo.) If you want, I can ask her what she thinks.